| Despite the availability of reform standards in mathematics since 1989 (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics), teachers have not yet aligned instruction with reform ideals on a widespread basis (Cohen & Hill, 2000; Hiebert, et al., 2005; Spillane & Zeuli, 1999; J. W. Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). Consequently, mathematics education in elementary schools has not produced students with strong mathematical understanding (Hiebert & Grouws, 2007).;The Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) Framework (Hendrickson, Hilton, & Bahr, 2007) was created to assist teachers in knowing how to teach for student understanding. As the CMI Framework has been implemented in schools, it is necessary to measure the impact the framework is having on instruction and on student learning through measuring the instruction that is occurring in classrooms. Prior to this dissertation research, there was not an instrument fully aligned to the CMI Framework for measuring classroom instruction.;The tool developed and validated in this research, the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) Observation Protocol, measures instruction through the lens of the CMI Framework. The results show three types of evidence of validity from the measurement perspective: content evidence, response processes evidence, and internal structure evidence. |
